SimpleChord Help > Customizing SimpleChord

Customizing SimpleChord

To customize SimpleChord, open up its Preferences from the 'SimpleChord' menu on the far left side of your menubar. From there, you can choose from a number of ways to configure the application.

General

Key color

use this to change the color that keys are highlighted in.

Size

this changes the size of main window and its keyboard. The default is 'regular.'

Start up remembering last chord chosen

when this option is enabled, SimpleChord will start up showing the last chord you looked up before you last quit it.

Playback

Instrument

Choose the instrument you wish SimpleChord to play in here. You can use the search box beneath the list to search for a particular instrument or type of instrument.

Volume

Use this to adjust the playback volume of all music in simplechord.

Note Length

Use this to change how long chords are played for. This does not affect the playback of progressions. The length of those are determined by the tempo and beats assigned to a chord.

Spellings

Strict Enharmonic/Simplified

Using strict enharmonic will take into full account the intervals used in the chord and try to spell them accordingly.
However, sometimes using strict enharmonic spellings, a white note best expressed as a natural may be spelled as an accidental. Other notes may be expressed as double-flats (bb) or double-sharps (x).

The simplified spelling mode will still attempt to use the correct intervals, but white notes will always be expressed as naturals and no notes will ever be expressed as double accidentals.

Ambiguous root notes resolve to

In some cases, when selecting an accidental as a root note for a chord, it's not quite clear if you mean the flat or the sharp of that chord. Here, you can choose. This may affect the spelling of chords.

MIDI device

Accept midi input

This will make SimpleChord listen to the first MIDI input device it can find.

in chord browser window

Change the main window's root note to the note that you pressed when MIDI input is accepted.

...then play the chord

This second checkbox will make the main window play the chord produced when you change the root note via a midi device.

in reverse lookup window

Midi input toggles keys in the reverse lookup window with this box checked.

Updating

Check for updates upon launch

This will make SimpleChord look for updates using the internet when you launch it.

Check now

This will make SimpleChord look for updates when the button is pressed. The automatic update checking needn't be enabled to use this.